Posted by admin on March 16th, 2007
With the average house price approaching $250,000, sellers are balking at the prospect of paying up to $15,000 in real estate agent commissions to sell a home and are looking for cost effective alternatives - Flat Fee MLS by UIHS Realty is one.
Flat Fee MLS provides home owners to list their home on the MLS and gain the market exposure neccessary to generate potential buyer interest at a fraction of the cost - a few hundred dollars comparted to thousands.
IHS Realty is a leading provider of online flat fee MLS services together with a very wide range of services to support both buyers and sellers to list, market and close on a home sale.
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Posted by admin on February 21st, 2007
Holding an Open House is a great way to market your home - so is the MLS
Combining the power of the MLS marketing system with a dedicated and motivated seller is a sure fire way of getting your home sold.
Real estate agents either love or hate open houses, not least as the most popular day for them from a buyers point of view is Sunday - how many realtors work Sunday ?
If you are in control of your home sale, you can list your home, and open house dates on the MLS and combine the MLS marketing advantage with the personal touch of an open house.
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Posted by admin on January 30th, 2007
And should I make one, or accept one?
A backup offer is an offer that is negotiated like any other offer until the buyers and sellers reach a price and terms that are mutually acceptable. A unique term of the agreement is that it is accepted as a backup offer subject to the collapse of a previously accepted offer that is in primary position.
Backup offers are an much underused aspect of real estate negotiations. If you are looking for a home to purchase, you make a backup offer on a property that is currently under contract and continue looking. You simply make an offer and go through the negotiation process as if you are making the original offer. Once you and the seller agree on the terms, your backup contract sits in limbo until the original contract is closed or the deal falls through. The whole idea is to have an offer on the table should the original deal not work out for any reason.
For sellers, it’s a great tool for leverage. You never know when a deal could fall through. There are many reasons why contracts don’t close - financial matters, seller changes his mind, property conditions, unfavorable mortgage terms. If the deal does not close then the seller must continue marketing his home. A backup offer saves time and reassures you that your home is of interest to the market.
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- Contract Forms
Need contract forms? You can order your own contract package right here for one low price. Everything you need in one package.
Posted by admin on January 23rd, 2007
You don’t want to scare buyers out of purchasing your home
Many for sale by owner sellers are not able to show the home to potential buyers in an objective manner. Often the seller skews the home showing to his own point of view, talking about experiences that he and his family have had in the home.
When you show your home be sure that you don’t bore potential buyers with all the memories you had while living there. You might just scare them out of buying the house. If you talk about all the positive memories you had the buyers just might leave and not call back, thinking they would be stealing your positive memories if they bought your house.
Instead, think about the houses positive features. Why would you buy it? Sell the benefits of the house to your potential buyers and leave the memories for sharing with your friends and family after the house if sold.
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Posted by admin on December 30th, 2006
Compare apples to apples and don’t list too high
So you are going to put your house on the market next week. Don’t be in too big a rush. You might underprice your home.
Most sellers are more in danger of overpricing their home than underpricing it. Historically, that’s what many home owners do. They are overconfident. They let their home sit on the market for too long at too high a price and when they finally discover they have priced themselves out of the market, it’s almost too late. Their best remedy at that point is to take their home off the market and relist it a few weeks later. That’s not a good strategy.
Many are waiting until next week to list. I suggest you wait until January the 8th and be careful. Expect an increase of listings friday the 5th. A smart agent will encourage you to list that day and have you take the weekend off. One purpose is to see if you get multiple offers.
That’s a worthy suggestion. See what the competition is doing. Most likely, the other home owners will be overpriced. But don’t list your house at the same price as other houses on the market right now. Proper market research includes a comparative market analysis that goes back six months and looks at house within a few mile radius of your property and of similar size and with similar amenities. That way, you are comparing apples to apples.
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- Price Your Home To Sell
Get a CMA before you list your house in order to prevent yourself from overpricing or underpricing your property.
Posted by admin on December 16th, 2006
Buyers need to dig for information
Learn why sellers are selling, if they have deadline, what they paid, what inspections they’ve had done
These days, the home buyer is king.
That’s because in most markets, there is an oversupply of new and resale homes available. Just ask any real estate agent for the “number of days on market,” and you will discover home listings languish much longer than a year ago.
No truer words were ever spoken. Buyers need to gain leverage. You do that by learning about the seller - why is he selling? Does he have a deadline? How much the seller pay and when did he buy? If you don’t ask the questions then you’ll be negotiating in the dark.
Here’s a short list of information to dig for:
Why is the seller selling?
What did the seller pay?
What is the seller’s deadline to sell?
What inspections has the seller had performed?
One more thing - ask your agent to conduct a comparative market analysis.
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Posted by admin on November 28th, 2006
Mortgages are easier to come by as well
Competition from other prospective home mortgage applicants/buyers is at its lowest; so your purchase offer will be even more welcome than usual.
Another reason to shop for a home during the Christmas season is because fewer people are competing for mortgages. That means your mortgage application is more likely to be acted upon quickly and will be seen in greater favor. You should shop for a mortgage before you shop for a house. That way, you can walk in with your pre-approval letter and the seller knows you’ll have no problem securing the funds for your housing purchase.
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